See some of our humanities and social sciences research projects at Massey.
An MBIE-funded collaboration with Waikato University and the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity. The project focuses on how communities and groups adapt to New Zealand’s “super-diversity”.
Ian Huffer’s study is the first to interrogate untested rhetoric suggesting online film distribution connects audiences to a greater diversity of film. He found that audiences’ breadth of engagement with international film increased more in the offline spaces of cinemas and film societies.
This project, funded by the Royal Society of New Zealand addresses the need for more New Zealanders to gain proficiency in Mandarin as part of a wider goal to foster business and trade connections.
A Core Research Programme funded by and in collaboration with GNS Science. The project has funded a co-supervised PhD research project to explore interdependency of critical infrastructure.
This project by Associate Professor Beth Greener and Dr Anna Powles considers the interplay of the UN’s Women, Peace and Security agenda and international policing in: increasing female participation and equity in UN operations; gender-sensitive policing; and alternatives to militarization.
Historically the law was made by men, but what did this mean for the evolution of legal thinking and practice? This project uses texts, space and visual culture to explore the ways lawyers’ masculinity interacted with social status and a sense of national identity to shape English common law culture during this formative period.
"The land has eyes and teeth: Customary landowners' entanglements with economic systems in the Pacific" explores how Pacific communities have established models of engagement that allow them to pursue economic development while retaining control over customary land and upholding community processes and values.
This project, col-led by Jonathan Procter and Hone Morris, has received nearly $3 million in funding from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's Endeavour Fund. It will create new ways of translating Māori environmental expertise so it can be added to existing geographic information systems.
Transport is being transformed by technologies including electric vehicles and connected and autonomous vehicles. This research looks at the opportunities associated with new transport technologies to reduce transport's environmental effects and address social and economic disadvantage.
The New Zealand Health, Work and Retirement Study (HWR) is a study of people aged 55 years and over who live in New Zealand. The study aims to provide information on issues such as health, work, retirement and housing.
Flotsam focuses on the plight of refugees from rising sea levels in Pacific nations. It had 10 international performances, including Chicago, Melbourne and New York, during the global Climate Change Theatre Action project, part of the worldwide cultural programme of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change.
A revolution in maths achievement using a culturally tailored approach developed by Professor Roberta (Bobbie) Hunter is attracting worldwide attention, and making a difference in the lives of South Auckland school children.
See some of our student research in humanities and social sciences at Massey.
Dr Alet van Vuuren's Doctor of Education degree explored factors facilitating the engagement in learning of Pasifika students at intermediate school level. Her study showed the positive difference to student engagement when teachers include critical cultural content into classroom practices.
Alet van Vuuren
Doctor of Education
Carrie Drake graduated with a Master of International Security in May 2017. For her master's research report, she investigated the social harms from cannabis by interviewing police in countries where the drug is legally available. Her findings come amid public debate about possible law change in New Zealand.
Carrie Drake
Master of International Security
Dr Ella Kahu was awarded the Sutton Smith Award for Excellence in a Doctoral Thesis for her work exploring the experiences of mature students as they transition to distance education at Massey University.
Ella Kahu
PhD Psychology
Francis Maiava received the 2016 Strategic Advisory Board Prize for Top Student for his master's research on the diverse nature of human trafficking at the Thai-Burmese border.
Francis Maiava
Master of International Security
Dr Hinurewa Poutū’s research explored the role of youth in Māori language revival, and the factors that influence the use of te reo Māori among those who've been educated in whare kura (Māori-medium secondary schools).
Hinurewa Poutū
Doctor of Philosophy
Janet Newman is the 2017 winner of The Kathleen Grattan Prize for a Sequence of Poems, given by the International Writers Workshop, for her seven-poem sequence, "Tender", about her father.
Janet Newman
Master of Creative Writing
During my master’s research thesis, I learnt more about the English language than in any other time of my education. Since completing my degree, I’ve launched my first poetry collection, Parallel, which features a number of the poems written during my honours degree.
Jillian Sullivan
Master of Creative Writing
Lindsay Baxter is the inaugural recipient of the Innovation Partnership Fellow, Digital Education. Her research for her Master of Education investigates approaches in wānanga on the role and uptake of digital resources in teaching and learning.
Lindsay Baxter
Master of Education
This knowledge helped me become a well-rounded learning professional and gain more confidence in my abilities as an instructional designer. When I earned my degree I started to be considered for global tech roles.
Lis Edelmira Alvarado Sarmiento
Master of Education (Digital Education)
The opportunities presented by studying and researching in health psychology set Massey apart from other universities. Being surrounded by a great team of staff and students helped make the experience what it was.
Lydia Stallard
Master of Science (Psychology) with endorsement in health psychology
Dr Maureen Mooney analysed children's experiences of the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes to determine how they cope with natural disasters.
Maureen Mooney
PhD Psychology
As part of her honours year, Megan completed a 10,000-word research essay examining the nexus between transnational narcotics and terrorist groups.
Megan Bockholt
BA Defence Studies with Honours
I got the opportunity to do an internship at a Youth Mental Health Respite facility and apply some of the theory we had learnt. This was really rewarding as it gave me the opportunity to think about and apply what I had learnt in a real-world setting.
Minette Forder
Master of Science (Psychology) with endorsement in health psychology
Nathan has been selected for a 2017 Gates Cambridge Scholarship to support his PhD studies in philosophy and formal logic at Cambridge University. He was one of 55 from more than 5000 applicants from around the world.
Nathan Hawkins
Master of Arts (Philosophy)
Paul Beumelburg says indigenous knowledge can be combined with modern science and technology to the benefit of island communities and developed nations.
Paul Beumelburg
PhD Development Studies
Studying my PhD in New Zealand has been the best experience. The Massey Institute of Education has a strong reputation among New Zealand universities.
Paweena Chatsungnoen
Doctor of Philosophy
Pip Rea's master's research investigates the role of resilience among women who have experienced the trauma of trafficking and working in the sex trade in Kolkata.
Pip Rea
Master of International Development
My thesis included the play I wrote, Trans Tasmin. I was delighted with the opportunity to have two workshops of the script, one in The Dark Room in Palmerston North, and one at The Court Theatre in Christchurch. These were incredibly rewarding experiences and I was thrilled with the outcome. Subsequently, a professional theatre company has shown interest in the script.
Robert Gilbert
Master of Arts (English)
Claire’s research highlights the barriers police face, and the opportunities presented, when police value the role of women as leaders in peace and security.
Senior Sergeant Claire Bibby
Master of International Security (Intelligence)
The creative component was both challenging and exhilarating. For me it was an opportunity to test myself with long-form fiction, and I used it to write a substantial portion of a novel. Strip was published by Makaro Press in 2016 and subsequently longlisted for the fiction prize in the 2017 Ockham NZ Book Awards.
Sue Wootton
Master of Creative Writing
Toni Jordan, a police detective in Auckland Central, explored the reasons senior rank New Zealand Police women are not applying for overseas peacekeeping deployments.
Toni Jordan
Master of International Security
Not only have I learned a great deal from completing this degree, it has helped immensely with my chosen career path. I now facilitate professional learning and development to schools who are focusing on digital fluency and the two new strands of the digital technologies curriculum as well as STEAM and makerspace learning environments.
Victoria MaCann
Master of Education (Digital Education)
Our researchers attract significant external funding. See some of our latest Royal Society of New Zealand funding awards.
The Centre for Research in Mathematics Education (CeRME) brings experts together to work on the place of mathematics education and its transformative potential in New Zealand, the Pacific region and the world.
Classical World New Zealand demonstrates the modern world’s ongoing dialogue with ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt and highlights New Zealand’s contribution to this conversation.
Equity Through Education is an inter-professional community of educators enquiring into the problems of educational inequity. We aim to break down barriers to learning, and promote equity in and through education via research, enquiry and scholarship.
The Health and Ageing Research Team (HART) was established in 2006 to undertake a programme of research related to understanding the status and determinants of health and wellbeing for older New Zealand adults.
The Integrated Research on Disaster Risk International Centre of Excellence in Community Resilience aims to discover how a community makes itself resilient to disasters.
The Joint Centre for Disaster Research is an international centre for research and teaching in disaster risk and emergency management. It is a joint venture between Massey University School of Psychology and GNS Science.
The centre is a joint venture between Massey University and Beijing Language and Culture University to research distance language acquisition of Chinese in digital environments.
The Political Ecology Research Centre (PERC) is dedicated to connecting groups and individuals whose work emphasises and critiques the relationships between society, environment and politics. PERC members study, teach, research and/or practise political ecology.
The academy fosters a vibrant, creative and responsive research culture among humanities scholars, to anticipate and addresses current and future research challenges.
